Attention eBay Store Owners!

[OCD 514]

Please see this thread on the eBay discussion boards:

Petition

EBay is planning to cut store listings from the general search STARTING SATURDAY!  Is this what we paid for?[:@] 

-Steve

[DJTheo 2]

Wasn't it previously like that? Actually I would be happy so, as ebay stores listings have much lower fees then normal listings and big ebay shops "spam" the listings with multiple same items every few days and if I want to search in stores there is an option for it. If you want your item to appear in the search put it as normal BIN auction and pay as much as everyone else.

Cheers

[OCD 514]

Hi Theo-

Just curious - do you have an eBay Store?  If you did you might

have noticed how much store traffic fluctuated during the recent

changes of how store inventory is presented.  Personally speaking,

my sales were better after Christmas when they had begun to combine

both again.  This was very good news considering the annoucement

of eBay Express. 

You see Theo, it is true as you say that the individual listing fees

are much lower, but the monthly base rate is largely the same : not

cheap!  Now if your a mega seller - like the guys that sell books,

cds, etc., they are the ones that can list 1000s of items for pennies

each.  That's fine for them, but there are thousands of other

sellers that sell more item specific, vintage, and custom services that

list low numbers.  Clearly someone is getting snubbed, and it

ain't the big sellers!

Anyhow, that's just my two p - I'm on the petition []

-Steve

[MAD ANDY 0]

surprise surprise, ebay are s*****g with ebay sellers again.....

ok heres the ebay shop options.......

5 gbp a month buys u a ebay shop basic stuff, no keyword cross referencing.

but if u pay 30 gbp a month, like i did, u get keyword cross refuerencing, meaning that if u typed tamiya escort, every item in a shop might come up in either the main listing or in a small box detailing other shop owners with those items.

the 300 gbp a month shop, i cant comment on, as i never paid that much.

ebay are greedy. always have been and always will be, until there are enough strong enough competion to them.

 

QUESTION.

does anybody have a link for the other auction sites?

i will join up. more ppl that do so, will strengthen the other sites, meaning ebay, may have to buck up there ideas.,

ok i know i am anti ebay @ the mo........but as of today i am allowed to rejoin, if i reply to an email stateing that  will agree to there draconian rulez and regs/

i m undecided, but most likely, i will not grace those pages again.

 

andy

[DJTheo 2]

As you say Andy, no one forces anybody to use eBay, but if we want the great international coverage that eBay provides us we must live with their rules. Also people tend to forget how much more money and sales volume they can obtain through ebay compared to normal advertisements or online shops. This of course reflects in their fees, as there is no thing like free lunch and eBay wouldn't be so sucessfull if they fees were too expensive, www market is free, open and selfregulated. What I also don't understand, why don't many eBay sellers who complain about it open their own online stores, like walawala did? Such shops don't cost much and ready packages exist for html newbies where you can build it up just through clicking. And if someone has great service (like walawala) he will still be sucessfull even if he leaves eBay. Personally hope though Google will make its on auction site as its rumoured in the net, as everything they did till now was very sucessfull and pretty qualitative.

Cheers

[OCD 514]

Theo,

I appreciate your views on eBay and eBay Stores, but I have posted this

link here for those that have a store and are concerned with eBay's

policy of 'pulling the rug out from under our feet' -- you see Theo, I

don't have a problem with eBay -- I love it! All I am arguing here is a

case of not throwing the baby out with the bathwater.  If you

don't like eBay, then this petition will not serve you .

WHy don't more eBAy sellers open there own online stores?  Well,

the store you've sighted as an example is a perfect demonstration as to

why more people don't go this route: WalaWala WAS a

succesful eBay store until a majoar change in the system caused major

problems in Walawal's store - I think he collected nearly a hundred

negatives over something that was clearly eBay's fault.  Cut to a

year later... Wala has opened his online shop, and is now in the

process of closing it to all but bearings. If you don't believe me,

just go check out what's left of the rest of his inventory -- another

fine seller has gone - and will be truly missed.

So like I said, some of us love eBay very much and want to see it

succeed, and not be eaten up by some new-comer such as Google. 

I've spent/invested a lot of my money and time into eBay over the last

6 years so simply abandoning the entire sight over a few changes seems

silly to me.  What if Tamiya Club changed some rules that you

didn't like? As a moderator, I would expect you Theo to do what you

could to defend your position.  Would you expect the Members to

turn and walk without debate? I should hope we wouldn't!!

[terry.sc 16]

  Wala has opened his online shop, and is now in the

process of closing it to all but bearings. If you don't believe me,

just go check out what's left of the rest of his inventory -- another

fine seller has gone - and will be truly missed.

Just for information:

Joaquim is dropping the spares and sticking to bearings due to excess

postage costs. His post office/ carrier is now charging too much so he

cannot make a profit selling spares. He will still be selling bearings

so he isn't disappearing, just changing to what is profitable. It has

nothing to do with ebay fees or the cost of running his webshop. Ebay

for him is more a way to advertise his site rather than his sole

shopfront.

I am not a big user of ebay stores myself, once found I tend to stick

to walawala.com, modelbuild.co.uk and similar. Doing searches for items

I have noticed ebay have started listing the stores items after the

auction ones, but just don't look at them.

It doesn't cost much to set up an online shop at all, and of course all costs are tax deductable.

[OCD 514]

I knew I was going to get flak for that one...

OK - maybe I've over-simplified the case of Joaquim's store:

In the beginning, his store was having teething problems; in

particular, the original host for his site proved to be very

unreliable, and eventually his name was changed to 'valvala' as

well.  Ouch.  Not the experience that is conducive for

business.  Yes, you are correct in pointing out that the shipping

charges have ultimately caused him  to cease shipping bulkier

items, but it was the interuption of customer traffic that brought him

so close to shutting his doors.  Just for the record, the shipping

increases ONLY applied to countries such as the UK.  Joaquim even

said it in his own news letter (not quoting) There is simply not a

large enough customer base for him to continue selling low-profit

items. 

I'm genuinely suprised by the lack of support I got on this,  I

really thought that there were more Store owners in here than there

appears to be. Does anyone in here like eBay anymore?

-Steve

[MAD ANDY 0]

<~~~~~~~~~~ex store holder....and i am backing u up.

i know the way ebay behaves, they soak u up into believieing the 5 gbp - 300 gbp shops are worth every penny.

so what do u do? well u buy buy buy all the stuff that is not a high seller, but has a margin to it, knowing one day someone will see it and buy it.

chances are u have brought this item off ebay......(yep ebays gets paid)

then u list in ya shop for 8 p a month or 20p for 90 days....

u rely on ya high sale items to bring in the customers to ya shop, because ebay had promoted this sales pitch

yes they said buy a shop and we will support u and offer u display and increased views of ya shop.

YEP it did work. ...... but now u got over 100 items listed and u will recieve no back up or links to ya shop....what do u do....

1 u could throw everything into the ebay listings @ about 50p each item

or just sit and wait for a well noticed item, that ppl may want to see, then try and convince them to look @ ya other items in the shop.

which normally items in shops are cheaper to buy than the ones listed on the main site

ebay are just stretching their arm, and showing u that u dont matter

 

andy

[MAD ANDY 0]

oh and  OCD.

i did notice ya comments about myself in another thread.

do me the curtisy of declareing ya ebay name, instead of showing no ebay link in ya showroom.

i am sure many ppl have wondered why u are going on about ebay, when it seems u dont have the courage to show ya face.

 

BUT I STILL OFFER U SUPPORT ON THIS ISSUE

 

andy

[OCD 514]

OK Andy - I knew I would have to address this sooner or later, so here goes...

Firstly, let me apologise for my comments about you without taking them directly to you.

Andy, I try to be as pleasant and courteous as possible to everyone at

the Club. This is my hobby, and I do this TO RELAX.  I have a real

job that I work every day, and it is rarely pleasent, and never

fun.  (That's why they call work[]) Maybe someday I can retire and

make this my fulltime occupation, but even then it would be first and

foremost a recreational activity. 

What's my point? Nobody wants to hear rude and inflamatory comments in

here, or anywhere else on the club.  I'm not naming any particular

incidents, mostly because I can't accurately recall, but I think we

both know what I'm refering to.

Andy, all that I'm saying is respect the fact that you and I are new

guys around here, and we should really do are very best not to step on

the toes of the  other subscribers.  They're the ones that

make this place such an awesome resource -- Whether it be for trading

in your case, or as a form of recreation in mine.

As for my eBay Store:

The reason I don't list my link here on the Club has NOTHING to do with

hiding my face.  My store is for making money to fund my hobby

--  Profiting off of fellow club members is something that I am

not interested in doing, nor would I endorse it. Like you said, eBay

charges a healthy fee to have these stores, so why should I pass the

fees on to my friends here on TC?

-Steve

[MAD ANDY 0]

fair do's

no apoligy is needed, damage was done b4 u steped up mate.

yes i use ebay as a earner, as a means to provide for my family without claiming benefits from the uk gov.

i have now given up that idea of a living, and given,  my competitors in the market a way of takeing more money from ppl in this market.

let me say.

when, i joined the tamiya market, a company in the usa was offering tl01 ball race kits for 12.50 gbp

i know this because i brought a kit.....but then i found a source of proper tamiya spec stuff....and i could offer you those bearings @ 9.35 gbp.......

guess what. that very same seller now offers the same kits @ my price..........infact he is cheaper than me, but then he has to ship from the usa.

these sales supported my hobby and my family, so very very sorry for that.

 

andy

[OCD 514]

my hobby supported my hobby and my family, so very very sorry for that.

 

andy

Whoa there Andy!! I'm pretty sure I never implied you were guilty of

supporting your family with your hobby.  In fact I find it

commendable if you are able to do so!  Also, Please don't think that I

have a problem with people promoting their eBay stores on the

club.  It's just I can't see myself doing it personally.

-Steve

[pleiku68 24]

I opend an ebay store before I went to Aruba and planed on selling a lot of my SRB stuff in the next few weeks...Heck, I paid for two months and never used the darn thing now they will stop the links from my auction..You know for years I had my own web page...Sold lots of stuff more than I ever did on ebay...I would run a kit on ebay and tell people to visit my web page..Worked well..I guess that is what I will have to do now or get a big dumpster put in my yard for all the parts I nolonger need..They tell me that what MRC did when they broke off with Tamiya but that has nothing to do with this...and I agree with you Steve...regards...

[OCD 514]

Thanks Jerry.

EBay is rolling out their new 'eBay Express' in the coming months, so

be patient! With the new shopping cart style shopping I think having a

store may become the way to go. Apparently when the new

system is implemented they'll automatically put your listings in the

'express' column as well.  Only requirement is that the item

condition is included in the general description.  I guess this is

because only new/unused items are eligible for the Express items? 

Fortunately everthing I have up right now is listed as new, so the

transition should be painless.  According to eBay they are doing

this to accomodate newbies who want to get into online purchasing, but

don't want to dive head first into bidding.  Makes since

considering how much time everyone spends trying to deal with alll the

up and downs of auctioning. 

-Steve

[akihabaramallrat 0]

as ebay stores listings have much lower fees then normal listings

Only the listing fee is lower, final value fees are higher (starting at 8% compared to auction/fixed price 5%) so that the final fees can be higher depending on the price of the item

[MAD ANDY 0]

ebay are geared for the newbies.

the main stay of their market are getting dissillunsioned with them and their marketing ploys.

therefore thay have to draw fresh blood from newbies, as the die hard although still there on ebay are looking fo rways to leave the site, without losing sales.

eventually ebay knows we will find  a way out.

so they need to keep re hashing them selves to get new buyers in

new buyers means some will become new sellers....

PLEASE SHOW ME A LINK TO ANOTHER AUCTION SITE

 

andy

.

[fatboyslim 11]

PLEASE SHOW ME A LINK TO ANOTHER AUCTION SITE

 

andy

That's just it, apart from QXL (waste of time!!) there is no others!! Freeserve/Wanadoo used to have a fairly good one but as we all know eBay bought it from them!!

[theshopkeeper 39]

www.ebid.net  could be good, if people would use it...

[terry.sc 16]

PLEASE SHOW ME A LINK TO ANOTHER AUCTION SITE

http://auctions.shopping.yahoo.com/

http://www.ubid.com/

http://www.qxl.co.uk/

http://uk.ebid.net/

Ebay is just another form of advertising your goods. They might not be

the best but they are the biggest by far with the biggest audience.

Just like anywhere else in business they have rules you have to obey

and charge for their services. Putting goods for a very small niche

market like R/C car parts on any of the other auction pages will not

generate sales - how many people here look at any of them, I don't.

It is considerably cheaper to set up your own online shop (no charges

on any sales) but you have to put some effort in to attract customers

and maintain the site. The costs are also much simpler when you are

sorting out your tax return - I assume as you are a trader buying goods

to sell on you are registered self employed and paying tax on your

profits?

[RETRO R/C 59]

[]

[MAD ANDY 0]

hi terry,

yes mate i am self employed and declare all earnings, which to be frank, due to a forced holiday, anit up to much...lol

 

i am now considering takling up full time employment, and leaving the rc scene just as a hobby, with the odd side sale.

 

MANY THX TO EVERYONE FOR THE LINKS.

 

andy

[terry.sc 16]

yes mate i am self employed and declare all earnings, which to be frank, due to a forced holiday, anit up to much...lol

Just asking to make sure, there are a lot of ebay traders who don't

declare their income. Great idea except the Inland Revenue employ

people to scan ebay regularly looking for the tax dodgers that are easy

to track down as their ebay account has a full record of their

transactions.

[RETRO R/C 59]

You are right Terry - more than a c ouple have been caught in this country.

Mad Andy - I have something to say to you that was said to me some time ago - and unfortunately it is very true.

"When you make you hobby your business - it is time for a new hobby"

Have to tell you it is VERY TRUE - for two years I ran a hobby shop and I have to tell I got so sick of fixing/working with/selling/ordering/dealing with the hobby in general that I got to the point where I wanted to stop my first love!!

Suffice to say I have a new career now - and l have rekindled my first love. I only now run a very small from home race orieintated cars and parts shop. It takes up very little time. Another saying that is pertinent as well is:

Q: "How do you make a small fortune from a Hobby Shop"

A: "Start with a HUGE fortune"

Unless you are buying your old parts for 10 cents in the dollar of what they were worth all those years ago - you wont be making much money. The bum has fallen out of the market for alot of vintage parts and cars. The wave has crested, I beleive, for ludicrous parts prices. There are a select few spares that will always command high prices - however I think the future prices for vintage parts is not going to increase a huge amount - in fact looking closely at some parts - they have more than halved in regular price in the last year.

The future is in online stores - not ebay. Manfacturers and importers are fast realising this as there are a number of wholesalers already dealing direct with the public in several countries.

If Ebay is to succeed - they need to make the stores more high profile - not more hidden.

Just a few thoughts. Niot telling anyone how to run their business.

Cheers

Darryn

 

[DJTheo 2]

as ebay stores listings have much lower fees then normal listings

Only the listing fee is lower, final value fees are higher (starting at 8% compared to auction/fixed price 5%) so that the final fees can be higher depending on the price of the item

Yes, but listing durations are much longer, so you should compare it with a normal auction you put up several times in a row, so mulitple times

Cheers